Synopses & Reviews
There is a door at the end of a silent corridor. And it's haunting Harry Potter's dreams. Why else would he be waking in the middle of the night, screaming in terror?
Harry has a lot on his mind for this, his fifth year at Hogwarts: a Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher with a personality like poisoned honey; a big surprise on the Gryffindor Quidditch team; and the looming terror of the end-of-term Ordinary Wizarding Level exams. But all of these things pale next to the growing threat of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named a threat that neither the magical government nor the authorities at Hogwarts can stop.
As the grasp of darkness tightens, Harry must discover the true depth and strength of his friends, the importance of boundless loyalty, and the shocking price of unbearable sacrifice.
His fate depends on them all.
Review
"Is [Phoenix] as good as the other Harry Potter books? No. This one is actually quite a bit better....[A] slam dunk....Dolores Umbridge...is the greatest make-believe villain to come along since Hannibal Lecter....I think Harry will take his place with Alice, Huck, Frodo, and Dorothy, and this is one series not just for the decade, but for the ages. (Grade: A)" Stephen King, Entertainment Weekly
Review
"No, you can't put it down....Rowling has not lost her flair as a storyteller or her ability to keep coming up with new gimcracks to astound her readers....[A] rich, worthy effort that meets the very high expectations of a world of readers." Booklist (Starred Review)
Review
"[G]o read Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix for the...sheer comic exuberance even in the midst of high drama....Jokes, gags and memorable put-downs pop up on nearly every page." Elizabeth Ward, The Washington Post
Review
"Rowling does her usual page-turningly good job. Although this is a complex novel, the high energy level almost never flags, thanks in part to the author's ability to create vivid scenes and set pieces." Michael Cart, The Los Angeles Times
Review
"Rowling continues to deliver her unique magic. And while it involves spells, eccentric characters and a wonderful world where we'd all probably like to spend some time, the real magic involves a very personal, often difficult, battle between good and evil that continues to give a reason for hope." Robin Vidimos, The Denver Post
Review
"Although it takes a while for the gears of this immensely long novel to mesh fully, the author's bravura storytelling skills and tirelessly inventive imagination soon take over, braiding together the mundane and the marvelous, the psychological and the allegorical with consummate authority and ease." Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times
About the Author
J. K. Rowling has written fiction since she was a child. Jo enjoyed telling her made-up stories to her younger sister and wrote her first "book" at the age of six a story about a rabbit called Rabbit! She started writing the Harry Potter series after the idea occurred to her on a train journey where she admits Harry "just strolled into my head fully formed." Ms. Rowling lives in Scotland with her husband and two children.